Andorra's new National Waste Plan foresees that by 2035 65 percent of urban waste will be recycled. The approval of said Plan resumes the objectives of the Circular Economy Law, which became official in June of last year. The Plan is integrated into the national strategy that addresses waste prevention and management efficiency in the circular economy.
In this way, the Plan marks the new waste management model for the coming years, in which selective collection is reinforced to make it simpler for the citizen. The instrument allows planning, coordinating and streamlining actions, measures and projects aimed at achieving the objectives defined by law, as well as waste prevention and more efficient management thereof.
The National Waste Plan integrates the most recent perspectives on waste management and establishes the new objectives that should guide the waste management policy and that allow a transition towards a circular economy. In this sense, the objectives have been aligned with the quantitative objectives of recycling and preparation for reuse provided for in the European directives. It also establishes the implementation and improvement of the new selective collections that will allow the objectives to be achieved.
For this reason, in order to achieve a recycling percentage of 65 percent of urban waste in 2035, in addition to consolidating and reinforcing selective collection of the fractions of paper, cardboard and glass, it is necessary to act on three key fractions. These are the progressive implementation of the selective collection of organic matter to large producers and then to the public; the gradual implementation of the collection of textile material throughout the territory and, thirdly, the improvement of its management, selective collection and packaging management.
Among the key lines of the new National Plan is the will to reduce waste generation by 20 percent, also on the horizon of 2035. Within the framework of waste prevention, the Plan establishes the ambitious goal of reducing 50 percent of food waste by 2030. Likewise, the Plan gives continuity to the current text on waste, which reviews the objectives to be achieved in accordance with what is established in the legal text and in the updating of programs and action plans aimed at prevention of waste, the increase in recycling and the efficient and sustainable management of waste.
The new Plan that will act in Andorra is divided into six action programs and 31 specific actions, ten of which are strategic. The text has an important program to reinforce the prevention of waste with actions in the commerce and construction sectors, as well as to promote the reduction of single-use materials in festive, cultural, sporting events and in the school environment. .
Two programs for reuse and recycling are established with actions to implement new models of selective collection and improvement of existing models, as well as waste management, the promotion of the presence of green points as reuse spaces and the establishment of circuits alternatives to waste collection for singular producers. The Plan also has some programs for the development of extended producer responsibility, monitoring of waste management facilities and a specific program for monitoring the Plan itself, which must be reviewed every five years. The Plan's Coordination and Development Commission, the municipalities, the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of the Environment, associations for the defense of the environment and waste managers will participate in monitoring the Plan.
The six core action programs of the Plan will be: prevention, preparation for reuse, recycling, extended producer responsibility, monitoring of waste management facilities and governance, and evaluation, with the consequent monitoring of the Plan.
The urban waste generation reduction targets will be 15 percent in 2030 and 20 percent in 2035. On the other hand, the urban waste reuse and recycling targets will be the known 65 percent in 2035, from 60 percent in 2030 and 55 percent in 2025.
